Page 39 of Mortal Shift
He didn’t even bother to glance in my direction. “You are.”
Asshole.
“Every moment I’m here, my life is in danger,” I snapped. “This just proves it. I have got nothing to gain from being here. You see that, right? Or is it just that you don’t care?”
“Don’tyoucare?” he countered. “You say you’ve got nothing to gain from being here, but aren’t you even the least bit interested in finding out why fate thinks we’re a match?”
“Fate’s mistaken. And the sooner your father manages to break the bond, the sooner I can forget about this whole nightmare.”
“It can’t be done,” he said gruffly. “Not according to everyone he’s asked. So you need to stick around and find outwhy.”
“Forget it.” I shook my head. “I just want—”
“I know. To get back to your real life.” He rounded on me mid-stride, backing me up against the wall. “Well, guess what, princess? Thisisyour real life, so you’d best start getting used to it.”
“No.” I jutted my chin and glared at him. “Fuck that, and fuck you.”
His eyes widened in shock and then narrowed as he stared down at me, his gaze dropping from my eyes to my lips. And all at once, his lips were the only thing I could think of. His lips, and his powerful, taut body almost touching mine, only a few electrified inches of tingling air between us.
He crushed his lips onto mine at the same moment as I reached up for his head, pulling him to me.
“Fuck me?” he growled against my lips. “Is that what you want, princess?”
His tongue probed at my lips, demanding entrance to my mouth and I let him inside, chasing him as he tasted me, invaded me in the most delicious way possible. He pressed against me, dominating me, but I was done submitting, done yielding. A snarl worked its way up my throat and I shoved him, slamming us back into the opposite wall. His hands found my hair and the small of my back, caging me against him as our mouths sparred.
My hands dropped to his shoulders, exploring his hot, rugged planes through his thin academy shirt and I snarled again, frustrated by the fabric between us.
Cole rumbled a chuckled in reply, letting me taste his amusement, then spun us, crashing my back against the wall and pinning me there with his mouth and body. He withdrew his tongue from my mouth, lowering his head to taste my throat as I let out a sound of protest, and then arched into his touch.
The flats of his palms pressed to the wall on either side of my face, caging me again between his arms. His teeth nipped at my throat and I gasped at the sharp pain that only heightened the arousal pulsing between my legs.
He drew back, and stared down at me.
“Fuck me?” he said, cocking his head as his heated gaze searched my face, sending shivers down my spine. “I’m the one going to fuck you, princess.”
He blinked hard then pulled his hands from the wall, and pivoted his head to look up and down the hallway, a confusion flickering in his eyes that he ruthlessly crushed, and when he looked back to me, his expression was cold, hard, and closed.
“But not here where someone might see.” He sneered. “You’re making me look weak enough, without people thinking I actually might want you.”
I shivered again, and rubbed my hands against my upper arms, conjuring the hardest expression I could while heat pricked at the back of my eyes.
“Right back at you, asshole. Why don’t you go back to the rest of the pups whose opinion you’re so scared of? I can find the infirmary by myself.”
“I’m not scared of anything,” he spat, looking me up and down. “I’m just too good for the likes of you.”
“Whatever. Get out of my way.”
I barged past him, half surprised when he didn’t grab me or try to stop me, but relieved as hell because the tears were threatening to spill and no way in hell was I about to let that asshole see me cry.
And why did I even care what he thought about me? It didn’t matter that he rejected me, because I rejected him first, the very moment I set eyes on him. He was a sick, twisted asshole and the fact he was hotter than anyone I’d ever met before didn’t change a damn thing about that. What happened back there was just… sexual attraction. Nothing more. One stupid moment of wanting his body, not the idiot who happened to live inside it. I so did not care even one bit what Cole thought of me.
And the tears were just from where I hit my head. In fact, it wasallfrom where I hit my head. Clearly, I hadn’t been thinking. I wasnevergoing to touch him again. Ever.
And Cole? He could just go fuck himself.
Chapter Fourteen
“Cali.”
